Local protests over Brick Lane film

Brick Lane ... Community activists are protesting against plans to turn Monica Ali's novel into a film. Photograph: David Sillitoe

A community action group in Tower Hamlets has launched a campaign to stop production of a film based on Monica Ali's Booker-shortlisted novel, Brick Lane.

In an echo of the controversy which surrounded the initial publication of the book, set partly in the east London borough, the novel is accused of reinforcing "pro-racist, anti-social stereotypes" and of containing "a most explicit, politically calculated violation of the human rights of the community".

Community leaders attacked the book on its publication in 2003, claiming that it portrayed Bangladeshis living in the area as backward, uneducated and unsophisticated, and that this amounted to a "despicable insult".

Now a petition is being circulated to put pressure on the council to halt Ruby Films' adaptation, already in production in a London studio, and calling on "all right-thinking people to join ... in preventing this attack on good social, ethical standard and idea [sic]."

Coordinating the campaign from his sweetshop armed with three mobile phones and an address book, the chair of the Brick Lane Traders' Association, Abdus Salique, warned of the damage film could do to community relations. "Nobody can come with a camera make a film about that book here. She [Ali] has imagined ideas about us in her head. She is not one of us, she has not lived with us, she knows nothing about us, but she has insulted us."

He brushed aside suggestions that a work of fiction couldn't be seen as an attack on a community. "It's not a fiction book," he explained. "This is all lies. She wanted to be famous at the cost of a community."

"I've seen her, I've talked with her," he claimed. "She never told us she'd write a book. Now she can't even come to Brick Lane."

He also claimed that community groups prevented Monica Ali from being awarded the Booker prize. "This book was contesting for the Booker prize," he said. "We stopped that."

Mr Salique raised the spectre of a worsening in community relations if filming goes ahead on location. "We are living in a multicultural society," he said. "We are in a peaceful situation. This film will make a lot of problems for local people."

He threatened mass protests if the company attempts to film on the streets of Tower Hamlets, saying that "the community feels strongly about this. We are not going to let it happen.

"Young people are getting very involved with this campaign. They will blockade the area and guard our streets. Of course, they will not do anything unless we tell them to, but I warn you they are not as peaceful as me."

A Ruby Films spokeswoman, Claudia Kalindjian, confirmed that the company was aware of the "controversy" which surrounded the book's publication, and that they had been contacted by the leaders of the campaign. "There are a small number of people in the community who are unhappy that the film is being made," she said.

But she rejected the allegation that the book or the film was in any way racist or derogatory to the local community. "The filmmakers read the book and thought it had a very interesting story to tell," she explained. "They certainly would not have embarked on a project which they thought was in any was racist." She stressed that members of the local community were involved in the production of the film, and insisted that most local reaction had been positive.

A spokesman for Tower Hamlets council said that they "take the concerns of local residents seriously when giving permission to use the borough [for filming], and would be happy to listen to any concerns about this particular film."